Why Fish Hold Tighter to Structure in Early Spring

In the early spring, many species of fish are in their pre-spawn mode. While they aren’t quite ready to be in shallow water feeding aggressively, they are going to be moving away from their winter areas. One key feature to look for in general is going to be structure.

So what’s the difference, and why are they doing it? Roaming is what you’ll notice many different species doing throughout the warmer months. They aren’t as affected by temperature, they’re feeding aggressively, and they’re moving all throughout the body of water that they’re in. On the flip side, tight to structure means they’re holding really close to key structure areas. Places like the bottom, cover, or edges are all places where you’ll likely find a good group of fish together.

In the early spring, they want to hold tight to structure. There are a few main reasons why this is the case.

One main reason is that most fish still don’t have super-aggressive metabolisms. This time of year, water temperatures are still relatively low, and they don’t need a ton of calories to survive. These areas of structure allow them to easily feed when they do need to eat, without having to move around more than they want or need to.

Structure typically can act as a funnel for their prey, bringing food right past them wherever they’re holding. Whether it’s small baitfish, insects, or other kinds of food, they’re going to find them in these areas of structure as well this time of year.

This time of year provides some pretty volatile temperature swings for fish. Some days it may heat up most of the day, then all of a sudden temperatures drop, and they need to get somewhere stable again. These areas of structure are usually positioned between shallows and deeper pockets of water.

Because of this, the temperatures in these areas are a bit more stable, which they like to find while also having feeding opportunities. If things do start to cool off too much, they can easily drop back down to deeper water where temperatures are the most stable, all while not burning too much energy.

So we know that they’re going to be holding tight to these areas of structure, but how does that actually change the way you need to be fishing? One of the big things to keep in mind is that while they are starting to feed more, they’re still not looking to burn a ton of energy to do so.

They aren’t going to want to chase big baits, and they aren’t going to want to leave the areas of structure that they’re comfortable in. You’ll likely notice that the strike zone in these areas is very small compared to what you’d be able to have during the summer months.

The bites you’re going to get this time of year in these areas are much more reactive and opportunistic, rather than aggressive. Because of this, you’re going to want to downsize your lures, put them right in front of the fish, and not move them around a lot. Figure out where the fish are holding, keep things slow and simple, and you’ll likely start to get some bites.